Resources and recommended reading

Leadership for the Health, Vitality, and Growth of African American Congregations

Spirituality and Leadership is designed for experienced congregational leaders who hunger for a deeper spirituality and desire to be used by God to lead African-American churches into greater health, vitality and growth.

$3.95 each
#7242005

Living The Vision: Health, Vitality, and Growth in African American Congregations

The visioning and planning process in this booklet is intended to motivate and help church leaders get started in the process of developing a vision and plan for growth of their congregation; provide a few resource papers to increase the effectiveness of ministries in African-American churches/communities; and encourage leaders to make a deeper commitment to spiritual growth. This booklet will also help the church to meet the challenge of reaching the unchurched and minister to many different racial and ethnic groups in the new millennium.

$2.95
#72420-01-001

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

52 pages

Periscope 4: African American Presbyterians

Periscope 4 highlights the organizational entities that are important to the church’s rich and varied history and persons and programs devoutly dedicated to Jesus Christ and the work and witness of African-American Presbyterians.

$4.00
#72420-04-001

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

82 pages

Periscope 3

African-American Presbyterians face many challenges in the next century, according to Otis Turner and Lawrence Bethel. Against the background of two centuries of African-American Presbyterianism, the authors, while highlighting some historical milestones, lift up some necessary changes and adjustments that the National Black Presbyterian Caucus must make if it is to meet the challenges that lie ahead. Periscope 3 will "fill you with feelings of expectancy and celebration," writes James Foster Reese. He concludes that Periscope 3 is a starting point for the African-American Presbyterian journey into the future.

$2.50
#72420-95-691

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

46 pages

Periscope 2

Periscope 2 is the second of four issues commemorating 175 years of Black Presbyterianism. The time frame between the Civil War era up to 1982 is given major attention, but some thought has also been given to the years immediately ahead that will lead us into the 21st century. The mood of the journal articles is one of black self-confidence and hope. This should be recognized as a tribute of genuine appreciation to our forebears and our contemporaries who have suffered the indignities and disabilities of discrimination in the exercise of their ministry.

Free

Limited availability by request through the Black Congregational Enhancement Office. Call (888) 728-7228 x5697

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

56 pages

Periscope 2 Study guide

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

9 pages

Periscope I

The celebration of 175 years of black Presbyterianism brings into view the whole range of experiences from early contact to current participation. It involves a review and reassessment of a process, which moved by uncharted stages from tolerance, tutelage and testing to patronage, paternalism and partnership. Through all of this, blacks who were, or became, Presbyterian had a sense of the inherent appropriateness of their identification with the Presbyterian Church and they presumed a "joint-heir" proprietorship in this part of the "Body of Christ." Whether or not this presumption was vindicated or confirmed over this stretch of one and three quarter centuries will be one of the important findings of the celebration.

$1.50
#72420-95-270

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

48 pages

Periscope I Study guide

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

8 pages

African American Christian Worship

by Melva Wilson Costen

In this lively history and theology of the African-American worship experience, Melva documents how the African religious taproot, replanted in slavery and reshaped by the Christian Gospel, can now bear fruit in authentic and empowered worship.  Abington Press, 1993.

$15.00
#094025

African American Church Growth: Twelve Principles for Prophetic Ministry

By Carlyle Fielding Stewart

The African-American church must reflect the ethos and life of the African-American experience, contends Carlyle Stewart. Using the concept of prophetic ministry, Stewart offers a model for effective ministry with African-American congregations. This book is for anyone concerned with church growth and health.  Abington Press, 1994.

$10.50
#094028

Evangelism Is …

Clinton Marsh's “Evangelism Is ...” addresses the compulsion of evangelism as the "love of God empowering those whose lives have been effectively touched by it, eagerly sharing it with others." As a black Presbyterian minister, Marsh shares insights for dealing with barriers which seem imposing and offers pastoral and practical advice in the area of evangelism. He also confronts head-on the problem of declining membership of the main-line Presbyterian church.  Geneva Presss, 1997.

$15.95
#500137

African Americans in Mission: Serving the Presbyterian Church from 1833 to the Present

The dramatic stories of African Americans who served in Presbyterian mission in the 1800s and those who followed in their pioneering footsteps are told in this volume.  The book celebrates the lives of these dedicated men and women and challenges the church to continue their pattern of service and commitment.

$3.95
#74400-00-009

Stories About Ethiopia: An African Holy Land

Reflections on the All African Conference of Churches seventh General Assembly and Study/Travel Institute and produced by the Religious Heritage of the African World Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia, 1999.

Free

Limited availability by request through the Black Congregational Enhancement Office. Call (888) 728-7228 x5697.

The Presbyterian Handbook

The Presbyterian Handbook provides historical and theological information about Presbyterian beliefs alongside fun-filled facts and practical tips on being a churchgoing follower of Jesus Christ. Complete with illustrations, the book presents a wonderful combination of vast truths, complex details and bits of humor about Presbyterian understanding of the Christian life. This unique and incredibly handy resource is perfect for Presbyterian adults, youth, students, families and all those interested in learning about much of what encompasses life in the church.

Available from Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.

Presbyterians Being Reformed: Reflections on What the Church Needs Today

Robert Bullock Jr., editor
With an Essay by Clifton Kirkpatrick

Beginning with the motto "The Church Reformed and Always Being Reformed," 13 Presbyterian leaders and representatives of a number of different groups across the theological spectrum offer their reflections on the current state of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and what the denomination needs today. The book presents various viewpoints, values and commitments found throughout the denomination. Opening essays by Robert Bullock Jr. and Anna Case-Winters orient the volume. Ideal for individual as well as group study, the book includes discussion and reflection questions at the end of chapters. Contributors include Fahed Abu-Akel, Scott D. Anderson, Jerry Andrews, Susan Andrews, John Buchanan, Jack Haberer, William Stacy Johnson, Curtis A. Jones, Richard Ray, Laird J. Stuart, Michael Walker, Barbara Wheeler and Parker T. Williamson.

$17.95 
#0-664-50279-2

Selected to Serve – A Guide for Church Officers

by Earl S. Johnson, Jr.

An accessible, popularly-written "textbook" for Presbyterian churches, which covers all aspects of officer training — call, duties, ethics, the Presbyterian Constitution and much more. Johnson is well-known among Presbyterians because of his long-standing column in The Presbyterian Outlook, which deals with these same issues on a regular basis. The book begins with a chapter on the call to serve as an officer and follows with chapters on questions officers often ask, the various sections of the Book of Order, the ordination vows, ethics for church officers and guidelines for growing a church. Presbyterian congregations will find Johnson's advice indispensable for the recruitment and training of effective church leaders.

$14.95
#501656

The Racial Ethnic Torch

Newsletter covering the activities of the office from the racial ethnic program areas.

Free

Call (888) 728-7228 x5695 to request a subscription.

Africentric Approaches to Christian Ministry: Strengthening Urban Congregations in African American Communities

By co-editors Ronald Edward Peters and Marsha Snulligan Haney

In a pluralistic world where the tendency is to dismiss or silence ethnic and racial differences, this book offers invaluable insight into the ordering of urban congregational life, Christian ministry and urban missiology from a worldview perspective that values the centrality of African people. Theological leaders and framers of African-American religious studies, such as the following persons provide provocative insight for theological reflection and praxis: Gayraud Wilmore (The Black Church); J. Deotis Roberts (Africentric Christianity); Katie Geneva Cannon (Diaspora Ethics); and Cain Hope Fielder (New Testament Studies).

ISBN 0761832645

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Blow the Trumpet in Zion

By Iva E. Carruthers (Editors), Jeremiah A. Wright (Editor), Frederick D. Haynes (Editor)

This volume's contributors — dynamic and progressive African-American church leaders — advocate the prophetic powers of black theology, preaching and evangelism in support of community and economic development, ministerial and lay leadership, and enhancement of church life. Among the writers are Charles G. Adams, Randall C. Bailey, James H. Cone, James A. Forbes, Jacquelyn Grant, Obery Hendricks, Asa G. Hilliard, Dwight N. Hopkins, Cecil Murray and Gayraud Wilmore. All were presenters in 2004 at the first Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, established to reinvigorate the social justice agenda of America's black churches.

ISBN 0800637127

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations

Planning can be challenging in the contemporary congregation, where people share a common faith and values but may have very different preferences and needs. Much of the literature on congregational planning presents it as a technical process: the leader serves as the chief problem solver, and the goal is finding “the solution to the problem." Popular Alban consultants and authors Gil Rendle and Alice Mann cast planning as a “holy conversation,” a congregational discernment process about three critical questions: Who are we? What has God called us to do or be? Who is our neighbor? Rendle and Mann equip congregational leaders with a broad and creative range of ideas, pathways, processes and tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs and context, congregations will shape their own strengthening, transforming, holy conversation. They will find a path that is faithful to their identity and their relationship with God.

ISBN 1-56699-286-9

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Evangelism and Discipleship in African American Churches

The topic of evangelism has been a focus of the African American church throughout the centuries. June Lee and Matthew Parker draw on the wisdom of several scholars to investigate how the church might approach evangelism in the contemporary setting. The authors address overarching themes on how and why the church must refresh its evangelistic methods. They also discuss how ministries within the church (such as deacons and trustees) might approach evangelism.

ISBN 0310221390

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

In Search of Wisdom: Faith Formation in the Black Church

In Search of Wisdom is a guide for pastors, church leaders and all others who help African Americans in their search for a meaningful Christian lifestyle. Drawing upon biblical texts and African traditions, this book will assist African Americans in their pursuit of genuine Christian discipleship. Wisdom in African-American tradition is not simply knowledge. Rather, it combines those insights, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and practices that create and sustain a life of hope and produce an inherent sense of one's worth.

ISBN 0687067006 

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Conflict Management in Congregations

David B. Lott, Editor. Herndon, Virginia: The Alban Institute, 2001.

Editor David Lott gathers the experience of more than a dozen authorities on church conflict. Essays focus on organizational tensions related to power sharing, the unpredictable ways people cope with stress, standards for evaluating the potential for success in conflict resolution, and conflict in ethnically diverse congregations.  ISBN 1566992435

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Congregations in Transition: A Guide for Analyzing, Assessing, and Adapting in Changing Communities

Carl S. Dudley, Nancy T. Ammerman, Authors. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

Dudley and Ammerman study 32 congregations engaged in some aspect of institutional change. This hands-on guide helps congregations meet the reality and challenge of today’s constantly changing urban and suburban contexts. This easy to follow workbook format will provide lay and clergy leaders with a useful tool to understand and respond to many types of change.

ISBN 0-7879-5422-5

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Studying Congregations: A New Handbook

Nancy T. Ammerman, Jackson W. Carroll, Carl S. Dudley, Nancy L. Eiesland, William McKinney, Robert Schreiter, Scott L. Thumma and R. Stephen Warner

This important new handbook for seminarians and clergy professionals places the congregation itself, rather than individual scholarly disciplines, at the center of congregational analysis.  Studying Congregations: A New Handbook is a thoroughgoing revision and update of the leading textbook in the field (A Handbook for Congregational Studies). Using a comprehensive systems approach to congregations, this volume enables readers to analyze the ministries, stories and processes that are at work in congregations. It provides techniques for studying the congregation as well as a framework for understanding the nature of the congregation.

ISBN 0687006511

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People: A Path to African American Social Transformation

Cheryl Sanders, Author. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1995.

Cheryl Sanders sharpens the agenda of black liberation by offering both a fresh reading of historical black religion and a distinctive approach to Christian ethics. Arguing that the experience of oppression has been a catalyst for black moral life and thought, Sanders traces several paths that African-American Christians have taken in moving from victimization to moral agency: testimony, protest, uplift, cooperation, achievement, remoralization and ministry. Informative and engaging, earnest and constructive, Sanders’s book envisions a new way of empowering people to take responsibility for their moral and spiritual development.

ISBN 0800629175

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation

Susan M. Lang, Author. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2002.

Our Community focuses on the roots, perceptions and experiences of conflict. Author and pastor Susan Lang explores how conflict can develop and grow in family and congregational systems. 

ISBN 0806644117

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Can I Get a Witness?

Brian Blount

In this accessible and provocative study, Brian Blount reads the book of Revelation through the lens of African-American culture, drawing correspondences between Revelation’s context and the longstanding suffering of the African-American church. Applying the African American social, political and religious experience as an interpretive cipher for the book’s complicated imagery, he contends that Revelation is essentially a story of suffering and struggle amidst oppressive assimilation. He examines the image of the lamb as a model for Christian behavior and discusses Revelation’s hymns, showing how they can be glimpsed as coded calls to champion God’s cause and the cause of transformative liberation. Brian K. Blount is Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the coauthor of "Preaching Mark in Two Voices" and "Struggling with Scripture" — both available from Westminster John Knox Press.

ISBN: 0-664-22869-0
$16.95

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

In Spirit and In Truth The Music of African American Worship

Melva Wilson Costen

Melva Costen explores the various genres of music used in African American worship. Moving beyond a traditional sociopolitical analysis, Costen examines music for worship in African American congregations through biblical, historical, theological and liturgical lenses. Tracing the development of music in African American worship back to its roots in Africa, she surveys its emergence and its use in camp meeting songs, black-metered hymns, anthemized spirituals, Pentecostal music traditions and contemporary gospel music. Costen concludes by offering models and suggestions for helping those who plan worship to listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit and to continue listening during worship to discern how the Holy Spirit may be leading us. This important, groundbreaking work ultimately challenges music and worship leaders to reclaim and affirm traditional African American spirituality and its presence in African American music experienced in worship. Melva Wilson Costen is the Helmar Nielsen Professor of Music and Worship at Johnson C. Smith/Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She is chair of the Worship and Music Department and director of the program, "African American Worship Traditions."

ISBN 0-664-22864-X

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Preaching to the Black Middle Class

By Melvin A. McMickle

This is the first book to explore ministering and preaching to one of the fastest growing segments of our society, the African-American middle class. In the theological tradition of the African-American church that celebrates "preached theology," McMickle preaches to both pastors of African-American middle-class churches and to members of the African-American middle class.  Published by Judson Press, 2000.

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Today’s Prayer – Volume One

By Shanell T. Bryant

An on-time, right-on-time devotional, for a fast-paced, rat-raced world. If you want inspiring prayers to help make your walk with God non-negotiable — Today's Prayer is for you. If you want to read prayers that connect events of the Bible to those of today — then Today's Prayer is for you. If you are looking to laugh, cry and rejoice at the goodness of God in prayer, this is definitely for you! Read Today's Prayer because "tomorrow" is not promised.

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Preaching Mark in Two Voices

Brian Blount and Gary Charles

For preachers who want a fresh and pertinent word to say from the Gospel of Mark, this book is one of the most exciting contributions to appear in a long time. Blount and Charles have the vision to see the compelling themes and issues in Mark, and they have the preaching savvy to know what to do with them."
—Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

Blount and Charles team up to introduce us anew to Mark's Gospel. Reinterpreting Mark through sermons preached out of very different socio-cultural contexts, Blount draws parallels between Mark's message and his African-American church heritage of slavery and oppression, and Charles wrestles with making the gospel relevant to well-educated white suburbanites. Each chapter begins with an exegetical study and sermon by one author. Then, the other preacher responds from his own context, offering a different view of the text. Brian K. Blount is Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is co-author of Struggling With Scripture and co-editor of Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship. Gary W. Charles is Senior Pastor at Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, Virginia, and the author of The Bold Alternative: Staying in Church in the 21st Century. 

ISBN 0-664-22393-1 

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Go Preach! Mark’s Kingdom Message and the Black Church Today

By Brian K Blount

Connecting the apocalyptic message of Mark's Gospel to principles and programs of socio-cultural transformation in the life of the Black church today, Blount begins his study of Mark by examining the social significance of Jesus' proclamation of the coming Kingdom of God. Through Jesus, God's future power broke through to the human present. This experience of the Kingdom empowered the disciples to "go preach" the Kingdom message in word and deed, to finish the story that Mark's narration about Jesus began.  Blount compares the situation of today's Black church to the situation in which the Gospel arose and explores the implications of apocalyptic theology for the pastoral mission of the Black church. He demonstrates the value of a sociolinguistic approach to the scripture, both in interpreting the text in its original context and in unpacking its meaning for today.  Mary Knoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1998.

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

God Has Smiled on Me

By Isaiah Jones Jr.

An Isaiah Jones Songbook

ISBN 0-664-22879-8  

Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Is This New Wine?

A paper addressing African American issues for discussion within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presented by African-American Presbyterians for Prayer, Study, and Action August 22, 1993.

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

24 pages

Beyond New Wine

Toward a 21st Century Black Presbyterian church growth strategy

A focus paper addressing issues for prayer, study and action by Blacks in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presented by the Black Presbyterian Church Growth Committee at the request of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus and the Office of Black Congregational Enhancement October 10, 2000.

This file is available as a PDF for printing.

7 pages

Study Guide for Beyond New Wine
This file is available as a PDF for printing.

6 pages

Evangelism Among African-American Presbyterians

By Dr. Marsha Snulligan Haney

As Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Disciples of Christ and other predominantly European-centered Christian denominations of North America seek to respond as a faith community to the increasingly dynamic ethnic and cultural diversity within our society, this book offers a sobering yet valuable perspective. By understanding the ministry of Christian evangelism as a construct that speaks of the power of divine transformation (personal and communal) and the embrace of a way of life, this work argues for a multi-variant approach that values the philosophical aspects of cultural differences, which are effective and faithful models of Christian evangelism.

While the numerical significance of self-identified African-American Presbyterians may appear small, their synergistic encounter of human identity and religious faith, historical experience in the church, and the impact of their evangelical presence provide an excellent case study for discerning the twenty-first-century challenges of evangelism. This thorough study of history, theology, organizational structures, methods, and techniques will serve as a valuable tool in evaluating the impact of the faith journey of African-American Presbyterians and its challenges for today and the future.

Dr. Marsha Snulligan Haney is an associate professor of Missiology and Religions of the World at the Interdenominational Theological Center, and is director of the Urban Theological Institute, Atlanta, Georgia.

ISBN: 0761837736
Available at online retailers or your local bookstore.

Periodicals

Congregations Magazine
by Alban Institute 

Congregations is published quarterly as one of the benefits of membership in the Alban Institute. The magazine presents firsthand learnings and insights into the dynamics of congregational life for clergy and lay leaders. Dealing with a broad spectrum of issues and challenges, Congregations is a valuable resource for those who want to create vibrant, sustaining and empowering communities of faith.

These Days
Daily Devotions for Living by Faith

These Days magazine has been the concrete expression of the church’s witness to the love of Jesus Christ to the world. The magazine, which features daily meditations and devotions wonderfully written by clergy and lay leaders, continues to be the source of comfort and hope throughout the world, and has been for thirty-five years. Published each quarter, These Days provides Bible passages, devotions from clergy and laity, prayers related to the theme of the devotion, and practical action steps for each — all at incredibly low subscription prices.

$7.95
PDS# TD2000

Web sites to visit

Congregational Resource Guide – Resources for Congregations

An effort of the Alban Institute in partnership with the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, the Congregational Resource Guide (CRG) exists to help congregational leaders connect with resources that will enable them to face challenges and foster vitality in their communities of faith.  The CRG is directed by the Alban Institute with the Indianapolis Center for Congregations serving as a resource consultant.

Black and Christian

Black and Christian bills itself as the voice of the African-American Christian community. This site provides information in four primary areas: the pulpit — resources to assist clergy, pastors and others engaged in church leadership; the pew — resources to assist families and congregations; the academy — resources to assist theologians, seminarians and others; and the black church — historical information and reference material on the African-American Church. This site also has a useful nationwide African-American church directory.

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